Smoke abater

ABSTRACT

SMOKE ENTERING A SMOKE ABATER IS BURNED AS IT PROCEEDS ALONG A DOWNWARDLY SPIRALLING PATH AND THEN MOVES VERTICALLY UPWARDLY TO BE EXHAUSTED FROM THE ABATER. AIR IS INTRODUCED INTO THE ABATER AT THE POINT THE SMOKE ENTERS THE ABATER AND AT THE EXHAUST FOR THE PRODUCTS OF COMBUSTION OF THE SMOKE. AIR IS MIXED THEREWITH TO LOWER THE TEMPERATURE OF THE EXHAUSTED PRODUCTS.

June 1974 H. L. WENTWORTH SllOKE ABATER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 26, 1971 Q%% a? MM ATTORNEYS June 18, 1974 H L. WENTWORTH 3.3179712 SMOKE ABATER Filed Nov. 26, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FROM I 1 FURNACE L--'\a INVENTOR Haas/Pr L. h/fA/Th/(J/FW/ BY Z1 Pym ATTORNEY S United States Patent Oflice 3,817,712 Patented June 18, 1974 3,817,712 SMOKE ABATER Hobart L. Wentworth, Barrington, 11]., assignor to Sola Basic Industries, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Nov. 26, 1971, Ser. No. 202,223 Int. Cl. F23c 9/04; F23g 7/06 US. Cl. 23-277 C 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to apparatus for abating smoke.

In many industrial processes, considerable quantities of smoke are produced. Since it is desirable to eliminate or at least significantly decrease the smoke being discharged from an industrial plant, such smoke is generally introduced into a means for eliminating smoke. The conventional smoke abater operated on the principle of burning the smoke which consists of various combustible products which have only been partially consumed. The smoke abater provides an apparatus for completing the combustion of such products so that the density of the emitted smoke is significantly reduced.

In order to ensure that the smoke is burned as thoroughly as possible, various forms of abaters have been constructed in an attempt to lengthen the dwell time of the smoke during the combustion process in the abater. At the same time, the combustion process must be conducted as efliciently as possible in order to burn ofi as much of the smoke as can be accomplished. In order to achieve the proper conditions for combustion of the smoke in the abater, excessive air has been usually mixed in varying quantities with the smoke. The mixture of excessive air and smoke, which is then subjected to combustion, decreases the overall efiiciency of the smoke abater since the abater must burn not only the smoke, but heat the mixture of smoke and extra air. The volume of the mixture requires a considerable burning capacity by the smoke abater in order to enable the abater to function properly.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved smoke abater.

Another of the objects of the present invention is to provide a cyclone smoke abater which is simple in construction yet efiicient in operation with respect to the burning of smoke introduced therein.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a smoke abater may comprise an upright housing having upper and lower ends which may be tapered. An inner cylindrical member is mounted within the housing and extends downwardly from the upper end of the housing to terminate short of the lower end thereof. An entrance orifice is provided on the housing at the upper portion of the cylindrical portion with the orifice being tangentially located so that smoke introduced through the orifice into housing will circulate spirally around the inner cylindrical member. A burner means is mounted on the housing and is positioned tangentially thereto to burn the smoke entering the housing. Centrally positioned means are provided on the top of the upper end of the housing for exhausting the products of combustion from the abater. Means are employed for introducing cooling air into the smoke only after the smoke has been burned so that the air mixes with the products of combustion of the smoke abater.

The smoke abater is also provided with means for trapping incombustible products into the abater with the smoke. These particles are collected in the bottom of the abater housing and means are provided for removing the collected particles. This is particularly of use where the smoke abater is connected to a fluid bed system and the fluid bed particles may be carried over.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the accompanying description and drawings, which are merely exemplary.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the smoke abater of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the smoke abater of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

Proceeding next to the drawings wherein like reference symbols indicate the same parts throughout the various views, a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, there is indicated generally at 10 a smoke abater according to the present invention and com prising a housing 11 having a central cylindrical portion 21, an upper tapered or conical portion 13, and a lower tapered or conical portion 14. The lower portion 14 is provided with a sump pipe or tubular member 15 within which can be collected incombustible particles as will be later described and having a valve 16 through which these particles can be removed. The entire housing may be mounted upon vertical supporting legs 17.

The upper conical portion 13 is provided at its upper end with a centrally located exhaust connection 18 through which products of combustion of the smoke abater are exhausted. The connection is provided with an adjustable rotatable ring 19 which covers openings 19A in the connection through which room air is drawn.

Within housing 11 there is provided an inner cylindrical member 20 having its upper end 21 connected to the upper tapered portion 13 and having its lower end 22 terminating short of the bottom tapered portion 14.

Smoke is introduced into the smoke abater through an entrance orifice 23 which is positioned tangentially on the housing 11 as may be seen in FIG. 4. The entrance is connected to a source of the smoke which may be some form of an industrial furnace or the like. The present smoke abater is especially useful in conjunction with fluid bed apparatus such as described in copending application Ser. No. 202,269 filed Nov. 26, 1971, now US. Pat. 3,749,805, issued July 31, 1973.

A burner 24 is mounted on the housing 11 also tangentially thereto, and circumferentially spaced a few degrees or short distance from entrance 23 so that the incoming smoke is immediately subjected to action of the burner. The burner is a conventional excess air type in structure and may be one of the many types known in the art.

It is apparent from FIG. 3 that as the smoke is intro duced through the entrance orifice 23, it will move directly into the path of the burner 23. The combustion of the smoke thus begins at this point and proceeeds as the smoke moves in a cyclone path about the central pipe 20. The dwell time of the smoke within the abater can range from /2 to 3 seconds and during that time, the temperatures encountered range from 1400-l600 F.

The only outside or supplementary air introduced into the abater at the zone where the combustion and reduction of the smoke occurs is that admitted by the carefully adjusted excess" air ratio of the burner 24. This ratio is adjusted by conventional means to be just suitable for the percent of vcombustibles in the smoke, taking into consideration the amount of air which may be entering with the smoke. The combustion of the smoke proceeds more efiiciently since it is not necessary to heat up a quantity of air which may range up to 50 or 100 times the volume of the smoke.

As the smoke moves around the lower end 22 of the cylindrical pipe 20, the smoke and products of combustion move upwardly through the pipe toward exhaust connection 18. By the time the products reach the exhaust connection, the combustion process has been completed and it is now desirable to reduce the temperature of the products of combustion before these products are conveyed out of the stack. Room air is introduced through openings 19A in the exhaust connection 18 with the quantity of air being regulated by adjustable ring 19.

The smoke may enter the abater at a temperature of about 600 F. and is then increased to a temperature in the range of 1400-1600 F. Sufiieient room air is mixed with the products of combustion in the exhaust connection so that the product being discharged upwardly through the stack is reduced to a temperature of about 400 F. As the burning smoke being heated passes along its cyclone path and moves upwardly around the lower edge of the cylinder 20, incombustible particles, such as sand, are dropped out on the tapered bottom 14 where they are collected at 15. Sand may be intermixed with the smoke entering the abater when the smoke is coming from a fluidized bed furnace in which sand is used as 'the fluid bed.

The various incombustible particles may be periodically removed from the collector 15 upon opening of valve 16.

Thus, it can be seen that the present invention has provided a smoke abater which is more eflicient in operation since air is mixed with the smoke in the abater only 'as required to complete the combustion process of the smoke. It is therefore not necessary to heat huge quantities of air to the combustion temperature of the smoke. In addition, the abater according to the present invention provides a sand or incombustible material trap within which incombustible particles may be removed from the smoke during the combustion process and collected for subsequent withdrawal.

It is to be understood that changes in various details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a smoke abater, the combination of an upright housing having upper and lower ends, an inner member extending downwardly from the upper end of said housing and terminating short of the lower end thereof, a smoke entrance orifice into said housing at the upper portion thereof, and positioned tangentially relative thereto, excess air burner means on said housing positioned tangentially thereto and adjacent to said orifice for introducing air thereinto, centrally positioned means on the top of the upper end of said housing for exhausting the products of combustion of the abater, and adjustable means with openings at said centrally positioned means for introducing additional air for cooling the products of combustion.

2. A smoke abater as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the housing and inner members are cylindrical.

3. A smoke abater as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the upper and lower ends are tapered.

4. In a smoke abater as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said means to introduce excess burner air constitutes the sole entrance of air into said abater for combustion and so that cooling air introduced into the top of said housing is mixed in the abater only after the smoke entering therein through said burner means has been burned.

5. In a smoke abater as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said burner is circumferentially spaced relative to said entrance means and at the same vertical height.

6. In a smoke abater as claimed in Claim 1 and comprising means in the bottom of said abater housing for trapping and collecting incombustible particles introduced into the abater with said smoke.

7. In a smoke abater as claimed in Claim 6 and com prising means in the bottom of said abater housing for removing the incombustible particles collected therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,725,950 12/ 1955 Christiansen 23-277 C 2,744,477 5/1956 Hartley et al. -8 A 2,889,002 6/1959 Kocee 431-5 X 3,604,824 9/ 1971 Hardison. 3,754,869 8/1973 Van Raden 23-277 C JOSEPH SCOVRONEK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

